Up to now, you have learned to deal with Greek verbs in the following MOODS:
Indicative Participle Infinitive Imperative Each of these moods may appear with active or middle-passive endings. Each of these moods may have "continuous" or "punctual" aspect, depending on which stem is used. To understand any Greek verb form thoroughly, you have to identify correctly its MOOD, VOICE, and ASPECT. The stems which indicate ASPECT are often called "present" and "aorist" instead of "continuous" and "punctual" so ASPECT and TENSE are easily confused. The concept of TENSE, or the time at which the verb action takes place, is usually applicable only to verbs in the indicative mood, or those made from the future stem.
At this point, your knowledge of the Greek verb should be sufficient to make the forms in the following charts seem logical:
CONTINUOUS or "PRESENT"
Voice INDICATIVE PARTICIPLE INFINITIVE IMPERATIVE ACTIVE keleu/w keleu/wn,ousa,on keleu/ein ke/leue, ete MIDDLE keleu/omai keleuo/menoj,h,on keleu/esqai keleu/ou, esqe PUNCTUAL or "AORIST" (First or Weak Aorist)
Voice INDICATIVE PARTICIPLE INFINITIVE IMPERATIVE ACTIVE e)ke/leusa ke/leusaj, asa, an ke/leusai ke/leuson, ate MIDDLE e)keleusa/mhn keleusa/menoj,h,on keleu/sasqai ke/leusai, asqe PUNCTUAL or "AORIST" (Second or Strong Aorist)
Voice INDICATIVE PARTICIPLE INFINITIVE IMPERATIVE ACTIVE e)/lipon lipw/n,ou~sa,o/n li/pein lipe/, ete MIDDLE e)lipo/mhn lipo/menoj,h,on lipe/sqai lipou~, esqe Review the forms in the charts above very carefully. Are there any that don't look familiar? Compare the participle endings, for example, and notice which ones will be easy and which difficult to identify. Practice translating each form into its English equivalent. Keep in mind that it is only in the indicative that the aorist represents action in the past time (or "tense").
THE VERB "TO BE" For the forms of the future and imperfect or "past" indicative of ei)mi/, see Thrasymachus page 41.
THE AUGMENT You have seen that indicative verbs representing action in the past have an augment (e) before the stem. When a verb begins with a vowel, adding the augment usually causes that vowel to become long, and the e is not seen in the spelling. When the verb is composed of a prepositional prefix and a stem, the augment often appears before the verb stem, and not at the very beginning of the verb.
Look at the principal parts of these verbs for examples of these types of augmentation:
gra/fw, grayw, e!graya e)rwta/w, e)rwth/sw, h)rw/thsa a)poko/ptw, a)poko/yw, a)pe/koya
The initial e is called a "syllabic" augment because it adds another syllable to the verb.
The lengthened vowel is called a "temporal" augment because it makes the sound of the first syllable longer. Usually a becomes h, o becomes w, and ai becomes h|.
If you look at the e section of the Greek-English Vocabulary, Thrasymachus page 282 and following, you will see many verbs whose first principal part starts with e, for example, e)qe/lw, e)lpi/zw, and e)pipi/ptw. So you will have to look carefully at both the first syllable and the ending to determine whether or not your verb form is in the Aorist (or Imperfect) indicative.
XIII, A. Choose any two Greek verbs that you have studied, one with a First Aorist, and one with a Second Aorist. For each of these verbs, try to reproduce all of the Continuous and Punctual forms for each mood, active and middle. Check the charts if you get stuck! Keep the patterns for each mood in mind.
XIII, B. Do the exercises (XII 1-4) Thrasymachus pages 130-131. You will be reviewing declension endings as well as working on verbs.
Answer Key XIII, C. Identify all present forms (those made from the continuous stem) in the following sentences. Change the presents to their aorist equivalents. Explain the differences between the old sentences and the new.
1. o( a)nh\r o#j e)sti kalo\j ble/pei to\n basile/a.
2. to\ paideu/ein e)sti\ a)gaqo/n.
3. pisteu/ontej toi\j qeoi\j, oi( a!nqrwpoi pe/mpousi ta\ dw~ra.
[Change a!nqrwpoi to the singular and make all necessary changes].
Answer Key
THE IMPERFECT Continuous action in the past is represented by the Imperfect. This is a tense made from the continuous stem of the first principal part. To this stem are added the augment and the secondary personal endings that you know from the Second Aorist. The Imperfect appears only in the indicative mood. It is easy to identify the Imperfect if you pay attention to the stems that you know or observe in the principal parts.
Thus: e) + keleu + on = I was ordering
Compare e)leipon (Imperfect, "I was leaving") to e)/lipon (Second Aorist, "I left") or e)lambano/mhn (Imperfect, "I was seizing") to e)labo/mhn (Second Aorist, "I seized").
Because the Imperfect is made from the first principal part, the three kinds of contract verbs (-aw, -ew, -ow)will show contraction in this tense. See Thrasymachus page 40 for these paradigms.
The Imperfect will usually make sense when translated "I was leaving," for example. It can also mean "I used to leave" and "I kept on leaving," depending on the context. The important thing to understand is that it represents a continuous or uncompleted action, as opposed to the punctual action of the aorist. Some like to think of it as a movie as opposed to a snapshot.
Compare the meanings of the verbs in the following sentences:
o( filo/sofoj e)pai/deue to\ paidi/on. o( filo/sofoj e)pai/deuse to\ paidi/on. The imperfect tense suggests that the philosopher had not finished teaching the child during a period of time when, perhaps, something else happened. The aorist suggests that the philosopher finished the task of teaching at some point in the past. While we understand these differences, we do not always express them clearly in English. You will notice that Greek is much more precise concerning the difference beween punctual and continuous action.
REVIEW of IMPERFECT FORMS
To form the Imperfect tense, add an augment and the "secondary personal endings" (same as for the Second Aorist) to the present or "continuous action" stem:
ACTIVE Forms MIDDLE-PASSIVE Forms -on e)/leipon -omhn e)leipo/mhn -ej e)/leipej -eso (-ou) e)lei/pou -e e)/leipe -eto e)lei/peto -omen e)lei/pomen -omeqa e)leipo/meqa -ete e)lei/pete -esqe e)lei/pesqe -on e)/leipon -onto e)lei/ponto THE IMPERFECT IS ONLY IN THE INDICATIVE MOOD
You can see that you will need context clues in a sentence to determine whether e)/leipon means "I was leaving" or "they were leaving."
XIII, D. See Thrasymachus page 132 for exercises 2,3,4, and 5.
Answer Key XIII, E. Identify and translate these verbs:
1. e)pisteuo/meqa 6. a)peqnhsko/mhn 2. e)pe/mpesqe 7. h)kou/omen 3. a)pe/blepon 8. e)pe/mpou 4. e)paideu/onto 9. e)kri/neto 4. h!koue 10. e!blepej XIII, F. Change each of the above to the equivalent in the present, future, and aorist . Look at the first three principal parts if you need to when you are making these changes. For verbs that are not "ideal," these principal parts are listed in Thrasymachus starting on page 244.
XIII, G. Choose 5 other verbs to write out in all of their Imperfect tense forms. Look at the Imperfect tense forms in this Chapter for help in placing the accent on the correct syllable.
Answer Key XIII, H. Reread Thrasymachus Chapter XIII and notice the MOOD, TENSE (or Aspect), and VOICE of each verb form. Consider the meaning that the Aspect of each verb form indicates within the context of the story.
Thrasymachus Chapters XI, XII, and XIII present some of the most important, and often very confusing, information about the Greek verb. If you have good understanding and good recognition of these verb forms, you will find that new information about the verb will make sense, and will build directly on what you already know. It is important to take the time now to be sure that you understand the following:
Only in the indicative mood is present "tense" or time actually indicated. All other "present" forms (the participle, infinitive, and imperative) represent only continuous action.
The PRESENT Indicative represents CONTINUOUS action in the Present Time;
The IMPERFECT Indicative indicates CONTINUOUS action in the Past Time.
All other "present" forms (the participle, infinitive, and imperative) represent only continuous action.
Only in the indicative mood does the aorist indicate past action. In all other moods, aorist represents punctual action..
BEFORE YOU GO ON, MAKE SURE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPTS ABOVE AND THAT YOU CAN PRODUCE THE PRESENT AND AORIST INDICATIVE, INFINITIVE, AND PARTICIPLE FORMS.
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